Bill Moost's going to be a fascinating few days on the Palouse, where former Oregon athletic director Bill Moos is flirting with Washington State about the Cougars' vacant AD job.

Moos and Oregon didn't part on good terms, though by any reasonable assessment, he did a good job for the Ducks.

But along the way Moos and Nike co-founder Phil Knight had a disconnect, and it became clear Knight wasn't going to help with Oregon's basketball arena project as long as Moos was running the UO athletic department.

So Moos left in 2006, ushered out by a severance package of nearly $2 million that contained a 10-year, non-compete agreement. Under terms of the agreement, the money in the package would be paid out in 10 yearly installments. Moos would forfeit whatever remained if he chose to go to work for a BCS school west of the Mississippi.

Moos believes both sides understood at the time that the clause meant schools from the power conferences, in the case a Pac-10 Big 12, or Big Ten university.

Last month, according to a source close to the situation, he struck a deal to become athletic director at UNLV of the Mountain West Conference. He agreed. UNLV agreed. Terms were settled. Then, Oregon stepped in, warning Moos if he took the job he would violate the no-compete clause. Why? Oregon claimed UNLV is a BCS school.

According to the source, negotiations went through the night and the Ducks wouldn't budge. In the end, Moos chose to hang onto his severance money and backed out of the UNLV job. But he wasn't happy about it.

Moos is a WSU alum. He played football there. He worked there. He is wildly popular there. He lives on a ranch just south of Spokane and not too far from WSU's Pullman campus.

The guess here is, if the Cougars really want him, this deal will happen. Moos probably is angry enough to give up Oregon's money, and the Cougs would be delighted enough to get him to help cushion the loss.

Something else to keep in mind. When Moos took the Oregon job, the Ducks had a clear inferiority complex about Washington. The Huskies had a more imposing athletic program, better facilities and, in most seasons, a better football team.

Moos made it his goal to change that. And he did.

If he takes the job at WSU, the guess here is he'll have a different target.